Foremarke Hall
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Foremarke Hall is a country house located near the village of Repton in Derbyshire. It is now the preparatory school for nearby Repton School.
A Great Western Railway "Modified Hall" class steam locomotive, no. 7903 is named after this hall.
Foremarke Hall is currently the Main Building of Repton Preparatory School (sometimes abbreviated as Foremarke hall) which purchased the freehold of the current campus in 1967 with 40 acres of land and three cottages of the Hamlet. The Hall houses the school's administration/secretary offices and of course the Headmaster's office. It also consists of the School's Boys' boarding houses and the School Library. There are two Boys' Boarding Houses- Burdett House which is located at the Top floor and the quite-recent Francis House which is located at the bottom floor. The annex is now used as a 'Flexible' Boarding House (where non-boarding day-students may temporary board.) , recreational games-room, kitchen, catering area and dining hall.
The Formarke Hamlet (place) (sometimes referred to as Manor) was under the lordship of and owned by the 5th Baronet Sir Francis Burdett. David Hiorns, the-then famous architect whose architect firm in London still thrives today ordered Foremarke Hall to be built as a Stately home for Burdett in 1760. The building is therefore Georgian and was in the Paladian architectural style with imposing portico, cursive, round domes, chamber/pillars and a magnificent south front.
During the course of World War I the hall was taken over by the British army as a military hospital, today, the military identification plate nailed to the doors of the front entrance is still present.
The Hall is four-storey high and consisted a large hall on the 2nd floor with an infamous portrait of Burdett which teachers and students claim 'Burdett's eyes seems to be staring at them in all directions'. In addition, an Annex was built as a Guesthouse and to house the Lord's retinue with a corridor at ground floor linking the two buildings. A double spiral staircase leads up to the pillared front entrance of the Hall and leads to the approx 1000 square feet main hall/living area of the building which consisted of two large fireplaces and a glass chandalier.
Facing the Front entrance of the hall is a circular parking space(Used to park carraiges at that time)centered by a grass-shrub roundabout and is known by the present school as the 'front square' which can be confusing as it implies the wrong shape. The rounded parking area attaches to a wide tubular drive which leads to two narrow drives going in opposite directions. Beyond the Front Square is a small lake. The campus consists of 2 woods, 2 fields now used as sport pitches by the school- Top Field, located next to the back-entrance of the Foremarke Hall and an other field, Lakeside, located next to the Lake. A small parish church was also built at the time of Sir Francis Burdett and is still in use. The Burdett family was buried at a secluded part of the church graveyard.
Myths have spread around Foremarke and elswhere that the ghost of Lady Burdett- Francis's wife haunting the Manor. A somehow truthful legend had it that Francis Burdett suspected of a disloyal tryst between his best friend and his wife Lady Burdett. Furious, driven by anger and out of control, he chased Lady Burdett from the Hall all the way up the path leading to the hill where the church is located and removed her right arm. The separated arm was never found and reports of sightings of a bloody body part as well as the sad cries and apparition of a Lady.
==External links==
